


remember me the way i am

by Marvelgeek42



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Gen, May Or May Not Be Continued, spelling bee
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-23
Updated: 2016-12-23
Packaged: 2018-09-11 11:21:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,414
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8977567
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Marvelgeek42/pseuds/Marvelgeek42
Summary: Dennis Finney was put into another class than his friends—Dudley, Piers, Gordon, and Malcolm—at Smeltings.





	

**Author's Note:**

> This is what happens if you give me the prompt: minor character (the more minor the better)

Dennis Finney was put into another class than his friends—Dudley, Piers, Gordon, and Malcolm—at Smeltings.

That didn’t change, no matter how much he complained, no matter how much he tried to get his parents to do the same. Even when Dudley and his parents complained, he was not moved into another class with them.

Dennis didn’t know the reason—and, quite frankly, he did not care the slightest—but it meant that he was all alone in his new class, without a single friend.

In retrospect, that was the best thing that could possibly have happened to him.

* * *

His first day in Smeltings was terrible.

Dennis knew he wasn’t a slim guy, but it had never been a problem before. And it hadn’t been for Dudley either and he didn’t even know how many pound his friend had on him.

That, however, changed as soon as he entered the classroom.

He was slightly late, because he had assumed that the room of him and his friends would be close together, as they were in room 012 and he in room 013, but for some reason these two rooms were on almost opposite sites of the school.

When he entered the room, the first thing he heard was: “Who’s that fatso?”

Now, Dennis wasn't the kind of kid that would simply let that sit on himself. He had seen who had insulted him.

A thin but tall boy—almost a head taller than Dennis was himself—with dark blond hair and freckles all over his face.

Before he could do anything, though, a tiny girl whose skin was several shades darker than the one of Dennis and the random kid. It was more than a bit obvious that she wasn't strong, in fact she looked more like a delicate flower than a fighter.

And yet she deliberately placed herself between Dennis and the random kid.

No one had ever joined his side before. Not his parents, not even his friends. And now this little girl he didn't know at all did?

"Stop being rude, Sean,” she said, her calm and steady voice making her appear significantly larger than she was.

“I was just wondering,” the other boy muttered.

The girl was not impressed by that at all, though. She looked the other boy—Sean—straight into his eyes as she responded.

“Then do all of us a favour and wonder quietly. Think about the impact your words might have had.”

Without further ado she turned around and held out her hand on front of him.

“Hi. My name’s Elizabeth, but call me Lizzie.”

Dennis mustered the girl’s hand for a couple of seconds before he took it.

“Dennis,” he grunted in reply. 

Their conversation was interrupted when their teacher arrived. 

He decided to sit down next to Lizzie. 

* * *

They sat together in every lesson, even if he wasn’t quite sure why. 

Consequently, they grew increasingly closer over the next weeks, even if Dennis still spent all of his free time with his gang.

He talked with Lizzie during class and when they moved from room to room.

The conversations were surprisingly pleasant if he was honest. She turned out to be a fan of most of the shows he liked and vice versa.

Lizzie was also great at explaining things to Dennis whenever he didn't understand something. That did happen quite frequently and yet she never sounded annoyed or condescending.

He grew to like her just as much as his other friends in no time.

Once a few months had passed, though, he was starting to see faults with his old gang. So many things they had done—especially to Dudley’s cousin, Harry—was completely and utterly deplorable. Nothing more than bullying and nothing less, too. Dennis wanted to apologize, but he had no way to contact the other boy, so he had no choice but to sit on his guilt.

It was a slow progress, but he was drifting apart from the gang. He wasn’t even sure if they noticed it.

Lizzie was just as good company as they were, if not better.

* * *

“Come on, Dennis!” Lizzie all but yelled as she dragged him along to the list for the school’s Spelling Bee. “Sign up! It’s going to be fun!”

Dennis raised an eyebrow. “Fun? You do know you are talking about a Spelling Bee, right? Because that sounds like the opposite of fun to me.”

His friend—because that was what Lizzie was at this point, wasn’t she?—turned around and looked him right into the eye. “You’d do great though.”

He snorted. Yeah, right. His grades míght have improved ever so slightly, but he was not smart. And what would Dudley and his gang say.

“Don’t underestimate yourself, Den! You’re smarter than you think. In fact, I bet you five pounds, some gum and...err.... a bit of chocolate,” she said, smirking as she looked through her pockets and backpack, “that  _ you  _ would be in the best twenty at the very least.”

He blinked a couple of times. He had not expected that. Lizzie never—absolutely never, under no circumstances, with zero exceptions—made a bet when she was not one hundred percent certain she would wind.

And really, what did he have to lose?

* * *

“You’re doing  _ what _ ?” Piers’s eyebrows disappeared in the hair that hung over his face as he asked..

Dennis sighed. This was the third time he would have to repeat himself. “I’m participating in the Spelling Bee.” He made extra sure to speak clearly and slowly this time, so that they wouldn’t ask him to repeat himself yet another time.

“I got that. But why?”

Dennis really could not put his finger onto why, but somehow he felt more than a bit insulted by Gordon’s question.

“Lizzie and I have a bet,” he explained somewhat reluctantly. “I only have to get into the top twenty to win.”   
“And you couldn’t just, y’know, take it from her anyway?” Dudley said, his confusion was very prominent in both his face and voice.

“Err, no? She’s my friend!”

Malcolm shook his head. “Mate, I don’t know what happened to you in the past months. I hardly recognize you! That girl must’ve gotten into your head.”

That statement made him feel even more insulted than he had been before. He needed to defend his friend!

_ They are your friends _ , a small voice at the back of his mind piped up.

_ No they are not _ , another part of him argued.  _ Not if they react like that. _

It was quite sudden, but Dennis realized that the latter voice was right.

He stood up and left. not once bothering to look back, no matter how hard they protested.

* * *

After that incident, he stayed away from his former friends. It wasn’t easy—he was tempted to go back to them more than once, but whenever he felt the urge to do so, he focused on studying instead.

Lizzie was still and would always be great help with that. She sat next to him, encouraged him, and made him forget the loneliness he felt whenever he wasn’t with her.

The three weeks between the sign up and the actual event passed in no time at all and yet they felt like years.

So much had changed, but Dennis wasn’t sure whether it was good or bad.

The hours before the Spelling Bee were the most anxious and nervous ones he had in his almost twelve years of life.

But once he got on the stage, he felt strangely at home there.

And he may have lost that bet, it didn’t really matter. In fact, Lizzie was more annoyed by it than he was.

“I knew I should have gone with top ten and bet a collection card, too,” she muttered as he handed over her prize. Five pounds, some gum, and a bit of chocolate.

“Now, don’t get too greedy,” he laughed.

“I know I shouldn't,” she replied with a smirk. “You wouldn’t have anything to do in that case,”

“You didn’t just say that:”

“What if I did?” 

Dennis smiled. “You’re so going to regret that.”

“You’ve gotta catch me first!° Lizzie laughed as she started running.

The first year at Smeltings had ended up being completely different from what he had expected.

He could not find any fault with the end result, he mused as he accepted the part of gum Lizzie offered him back as a peace offering.

“You did great, though.”


End file.
